"The building of and expansion of the schools was needed," Heiser told viewers, "but I was glad to see residents push back in opposition to any spending for a proposed new police station. The police department does a good job in the building housing it now. I'd have to take a closer look at the affordability of raising the existing building and constructing a new one."

First Selectman Rudy Marconi agrees with Heiser that taxpayers need "a breather" in spending. He is working to bring in a 4.5 percent increase in municipal spending for the coming budget year and hopes the education board will bring in a 5.1 percent increase, not a 7.99 percent increase suggested.

Heiser wants to see the schools' spending reigned in as well. He questions how so much money could have been spent on schools and parents still find their children in the second grade in classes of 27 children.

Heiser told viewers Tuesday that with this budget year, he is hoping that expenses can be reigned in all around.

But he also hopes that some accounts will be fully funded. He hopes the town's pension account will be fully funded by the selectmen and the school board.

"It needs to be fully funded or we are sowing the seeds for trouble," Heiser said. "Waterbury declared bankruptcy and the
Federal Government
came in to take over. That was mostly due to unfunded pension accounts. Ridgefield is not in dire straits like Waterbury, but we need to bite the bullet now and fully fund our accounts."

Pension Commission Chairman
David Campbell
said Thursday that "We are in no means in the crisis area. We have made the case to the Board of Finance that the accounts should not be short changed in tight budget years."

In the last two years, there have been cutbacks by both the selectmen and the education board in these contributions, Campbell said.

"In terms of the health of the accounts, nobody need be concerned at this time that they won't get their pensions," Campbell said. "However, I want to make sure that there is enough money for the pensioners 30 years down the line."

Marconi noted that due to changes in calculating town and school financial contributions to the accounts, and the longer life spans of pensioners, a "huge hit" was taken that created a sense of deficit in the accounts.